Whenever I watch TV programs, science fiction is always the genre that is the least of my liking. But after watching the movie The Passengers on cable TV recently, I remembered that I have one sci-fi Kdrama that has been sitting in my external hard drive for months. That Kdrama was Melting Me Softly.
Melting Me Softly is the story of variety show producer Ma Dong-chan and TV show part-timer Go Mi-ran. Two ordinary people who will try to make amends in catching up with the time they lost after a supposed 24-hour science experiment where they were both part of fails. Both people wake up 20 years later, leaving them confused, in a daze and racing against time to adjust and cope with the changes they encounter in the present time.
My author-friend Elizabeth told me that this Kdrama is another show that can give one a lot of feels -- and indeed it is. There was actually a moment while watching this drama that I felt it hard to process what I was feeling towards Dong-chan and his girlfriend Na Ha-young’s situation. Ha-young was left powerless when Dong-chan went missing; and despite being in a situation where there was no clear resolution as to what happened, she still waited for him to return -- even if it meant she will have to wait for two decades. But what made it all the more painful was when Dong-chan confessed that his feelings no longer aligned with hers. It made me realize that time indeed can change everything, and it’s not just limited to one’s physical features but even to the emotional aspect of their being as well.
Aside from the humor and a bit of the romantic side, this drama showed a good representation on the importance of family. I particularly found the episode where Dong-chan had this heart-to-heart conversation with his youngest sister where he assured her that he will always be his older brother and that she is still precious to him. But honestly, if there was one thing that really pushed me to watch the show aside from wanting to observe the genre, it’s only because of its lead actor, Ji chang-wook. Melting Me Softly would have been better if only the main characters were given a much-deserved conclusion to their story. I mean come on, Dong-chan and Mi-ran went through a lot of complications from that botched science experiment and a stabbing incident caused Mi-ran to be a cryonic human again for another three years so the ending that they both travelled together to the United States and did a travel vlog does not give justice to both the storyline and the characters. I guess viewers would have enjoyed it more if the story and the characters had a more interesting ending.
